News

March 11, 2026
For Immediate Release
Media contact: Rob Wilcox, rob@fundforasaferfuture.org

The Fund for a Safer Future Builds Momentum with $2.3 Million in New Research Grants, Expanding Portfolio to 60 Projects Nationwide

Washington, DC (March 11, 2026) – The Fund for a Safer Future (FSF), a national collaborative of funders working to reduce gun violence, today announced $2.3 million in new research grants supporting 13 innovative projects across the country.

These awards expand FSF’s research portfolio to 60 projects since 2011, and bring total research investments to more than $10.7 million, reflecting the Fund’s commitment to building a strong evidence base for effective gun violence prevention. As the Fund’s research investment has increased year over year, interest in this funding opportunity has grown as well, with more than 130 Letters of Intent submitted by researchers and organizations nationwide. 

This year’s grants support a diverse range of academic researchers and community-based organizations working at the intersection of public health, policy, and community safety, and support many earlier career emerging researchers. Projects will evaluate community-led violence intervention strategies and school-based Safe Passage programs; strengthen implementation of Extreme Risk Protection Orders; explore culturally grounded approaches to suicide prevention in tribal communities; improve trauma-informed care following firearm injury; examine how firearm commerce and regulatory policies shape patterns of violence; and develop practical tools to support families, healthcare providers, and local leaders working to prevent harm.

“Research plays a critical role in helping us understand what works to prevent gun violence and how to grow and scale those solutions,” said Rob Wilcox, Chief Executive Officer of the Fund for a Safer Future. “These grants reflect our commitment to supporting rigorous, community-informed research that we will help translate into real-world action. By investing in innovative ideas and emerging leaders in the field, we are building safer communities nationwide.”

Since its founding, FSF has prioritized research that bridges academic rigor with practical application. This year’s cohort includes several early-career researchers, reflecting the Fund’s commitment to the next generation of scholars in the field while also elevating community partnerships and advancing studies that inform policy, healthcare systems, and violence intervention efforts.  All research funded by FSF is required to be published as open access, ensuring that findings are accessible to practitioners, advocates, and communities who can put this knowledge into action. Read more about FSF-funded active research projects here.  

Details of the 13 research grants are as follows:

Grantee	Grant Purpose, Principal Investigator, Amount and Term
Center for Justice Research at Texas Southern University	By leveraging National Violent Death Reporting System data and community input, researchers will examine how cumulative trauma and structural inequities impact firearm mortality among individuals recently released from incarceration, and translate findings into prevention strategies and policy recommendations during the critical reentry period. Principal Investigator: Jennifer Wyatt Bourgeois* Grant Amount: $100,000 Grant Term: November 2025 – December 2028
Circle of Safety and Care (fiscally sponsored by Enrich Kids Now)	Using community-based participatory research, the team will co-design a “Circle of Safety and Care” model with Black men who have experienced violence, developing practical guidance for CVI and health partners on reducing re-traumatization and supporting healing in the southeastern U.S. and beyond. Principal Investigator: Danielle Dupuy-Watson Grant Amount: $250,000 Grant Term: November 2025 – December 2028
Columbia University Scientific Union for the Reduction of Gun Violence	Researchers will rigorously evaluate Philadelphia’s community-led “Glitter” trash and litter abatement program as a gun violence prevention strategy, comparing areas with different levels of Glitter program activity to assess impacts on shootings, assaults, and resident perceptions of safety. Principal Investigator: Charles Branas and Bernadette Hohl Grant Amount: $194,000 Grant Term: November 2025 – December 2028
Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council, Inc.	Working with Native youth in Great Lakes tribal communities, the team will adapt and evaluate the culturally grounded “Gathering of Native Americans” curriculum to address firearm exposure and suicide risk, combining traditional practices, youth leadership, and trauma-informed activities to generate a replicable model for tribal partners. Principal Investigator: Christina Denslinger and Josie Caves Sivaraman (co-PI, Southern Injury Prevention Institute) Grant Amount: $250,000 Grant Term: November 2025 – December 2027
Kaiser Permanente Colorado Institute for Health Research	Through literature review, survivor and clinician interviews, and a modified Delphi process, the team will develop an evidence-informed roadmap for standardizing equitable, trauma-informed care after firearm injury — producing consensus recommendations that health systems can adopt to improve outcomes and prevent reinjury. Principal Investigator: Jennifer Boggs and Julie Angerhofer* Grant Amount: $100,000 Grant Term: December 2025 – December 2027
University of Colorado, Denver	A mixed-methods study of how behavioral health professionals understand and use Colorado’s Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) law, with findings informing training and clinical guidance to strengthen this key firearm-policy tool.  Principal Investigator: Leslie Barnard* Grant Amount: $99,730  Grant Term: November 2025 – December 2027
Rowan University, Department of Law & Justice Studies	Researchers will evaluate Operation Better Block’s Safe Passage program, a school-based violence intervention program where at-risk youth serve as safety ambassadors, assessing its effectiveness in helping youth build new identities, reduce their association with violence, and change the norms around violence in their community.  Principal Investigator: Joseph Johnson Grant Amount: $249,999 Grant Term: November 2025 – December 2028
The New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center, Rutgers University	Researchers will develop and test the Firearm Life Plan, a structured decision aid to help older adult firearm owners and their families plan for safer storage, transfer, or removal of guns as health and cognition change over time, offering a scalable tool for clinicians and aging-services providers.  Principal Investigator: Allison Bond*  Grant Amount: $96,770  Grant Term: November 2025 – December 2026
Indiana University	A mixed-methods study investigating the factors that make nonfatal shootings less likely to be solved, combining law enforcement case files with survivor and investigator interviews to generate recommendations that improve investigations, community trust, and safety in heavily impacted communities.  Principal Investigator: Lauren A. Magee and Susan Parker*  Grant Amount: $208,680  Grant Term: November 2025 – December 2027
University of California, Davis, Dept. of Emergency Medicine, Violence Prevention Research Program	Using linked data on firearm sales, thefts, and crime gun recoveries in California, researchers will evaluate the effects of the state’s new firearm excise tax and produce the first empirical estimates of the illicit firearm market, informing supply-side strategies for prevention. Principal Investigator: Hannah Laqueur and Rose Kagawa* Grant Amount: $249,573  Grant Term: November 2025 – December 2028
University of Southern California	A mixed-methods study modeling the developmental trajectories of youth gun-related behaviors in diverse rural and urban communities, pairing longitudinal survey data with community-based participatory approaches and youth storytelling to inform youth-centered prevention and community violence intervention strategies.  Principal Investigator: Daniel Soto and Adrian Huerta* Grant Amount: $99,866 Grant Term: November 2025 – June 2027
University of Washington	Using linked administrative and firearms data, researchers will estimate the “spillover” consequences of Extreme Risk Protection Orders for other household members, clarifying the broader benefits and unintended effects of ERPO implementation to inform policy and practice. Principal Investigator: N. Jeanie Santaularia Gomez*  Grant Amount: $187,674  Grant Term: November 2025 – December 2027
Vanderbilt University	Researchers will identify which community-engaged, trauma-informed policies — such as 988 crisis response, mental-health co-responder models, and community oversight structures — are associated with lower levels of police-involved shootings, and will produce a practice agenda to guide reform efforts. Principal Investigator: Julie Ward and Dylan Jackson Grant Amount: $249,953 Grant Term: November 2025 – December 2028

* Denotes Early Career Researcher

 

These grants were selected by a committee made up of Fund for a Safer Future members and key stakeholders in the field. The Request for Proposals (RFP) that applicants responded to is available here. The committee included: Megan O’Toole, PhD, Everytown for Gun Safety (Chair); Milan AbiNader, PhD, University of Pennsylvania; Emmy Betz, MD, PhD, University of Colorado; Bryann Debeer, PhD, University of Colorado; Jocelyn Fontaine, PhD, Black & Brown Collective; Nicole Golden, Texas Gun Sense; Kenya Jackson, Grady Health System; Jim Mercy, PhD, Former CDC; Kayla Toohy, PhD, University of Tampa; Jesy Pizaro, PhD, Arizona State University; Alex Testa, PhD, University of Texas, San Antonio; Kjersti Olson, PhD, Sandy Hook Promise; Perry Shaw, A Better Way for Trenton. 

The Fund expects to release a new research-focused RFP in Spring 2026. For more information about the upcoming RFP or about the Fund more generally, visit www.fundforasaferfuture.org or follow us on LinkedIn.

Founded in 2011, the Fund for a Safer Future is a funder collaborative that works to reduce gun violence in the United States by aligning funders around four key approaches: policy and legal strategies, research, communications and narrative change, and building a stronger gun violence prevention movement. Since its founding the Fund has granted more than $10.7 million to support 60 different research projects. Overall, the Fund has made more than $35 million in grants to support gun violence prevention work and leveraged another $250 million in aligned grantmaking by its more than 35 members.

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